The 5-dimension idea scoring framework
One score out of 10 hides everything that matters. Five scores reveal the trade-offs.
Daniel
Fifteen years running growth for SaaS, ecommerce, and hardware brands. Currently shipping SaaSValidatr out of Australia.
Single-score rankings are comfort food. They let you say 'idea A scored 7, idea B scored 8, we go with B.' But the 7 and the 8 can be hiding completely different shapes — a simple idea in a mature market versus a novel idea in a hard-to-reach one. Averaging erases the argument.
The five dimensions
- Market viability — is there demand, and can you reach it without burning cash.
- Revenue potential — if it works, is the ceiling interesting.
- Feasibility — can this team actually build and ship it.
- Uniqueness — does it have a wedge or is it racing to zero.
- Simplicity — how many moving parts before you hit value.
The magic is in the combinations. High market + low uniqueness is a commodity race. High uniqueness + low feasibility is a research project. High simplicity + low revenue potential is a feature, not a company. You want two or three dimensions strong and the others survivable.
“Ideas with a single 10 usually die. Ideas that score 7-8 across four dimensions usually ship.”
Run every idea through the same five questions and you stop comparing apples to oranges. You start comparing apples to apples, and you notice which orchard the winners come from.
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